GOLF

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIV, 10 September 1930, Page 7

GOLF

THE NELSON CLUBS

NOTES FROM VARIOUS SOURCES

The Week's Fixtures. Friday: Ladies, no official fixture. Saturday: Men, fifth round Encounter Shield.

Encounter Shield. The fiftli and final round_for the Encounter Shield will bo played on Saturday. Nealo and Davis are running close, there being four points difference in favour of Nealc.

Greens in Good Order. The, greens liavo never been in better condition than they are at tho present time'. The.rain at the end of last month had a wonderful effect in bringing the giass away.

Club Championships. All club championships are nbw well advanced, the semi-final stages having been reached. . ' • In the senior championship Saunders beat Vercoe; I. Dodds beat Fletcher and Rout beat Burrell. The semi-finalists in the Leggatt Cup are Fletcher, Burrell, Davis and Hoby. In the Captain's Trophy Huggins plays Paterson and Low plays A. Allan in the semi-finals. :

Ladies' Championships. In the first round of the ladies' championship Mrs Cock beat Mrs Dodson. The second round has been" extended until 20th hist. The first round of the junior championship resulted: Mrs H. L. Harley beat Miss Rogers, Mrs McLaren beat Miss Clark; Mrs Challics.beat. Mrs E. Leggatt; Mrs Campbell-Smith beat MHss Easterfield; Miss Campbell-Smith beat Miss Betts. ,>;,••'■'« The first round of the Mackay Gup resulted : Mrs Smart beat Miss E. Hunt; Mrs Moore beat Mrs Dawson; Mrs Lee beat Mrs Stevens. Tho second rounds of the junior championship and the Mackay Cup must be finished this week.

Marty Visitors. During the past fortnight more than (he usual number of visitors have been on tho links. Very favouiable comment was made on the ideally situated course.

N.Z. Championship. It is expected that F. W. Huggins will represent the Club at the New Zealand Championship meeting to be held at Palmerston North, commencing on Friday, 24th October, and finishing on Saturday, Ist November. The 1 last New Zealand championship meeting on the Palmerston North course was held about eight years ago and was well run by the committee of the club, d,espite most unfavourable weather.

The Open. There will be the usual keen competition for the open championship of the Dominion, which carries with it the blue riband of golf in New Zealand. Four rounds of stroke play is a splendid test, and the man who comes through this stiff ordeal with the fewest number of strokes deserves to be hailed as champion golfer of the Dominion. The holder of the 1 title is A. J. Shaw, professional to the Napier Golf Club, who won the open at Wanganui last year with 299, which was three strokes better than the Masterton amateur, T. 11. Horton. Shaw last year did the four rounds in 76, 75,. 76, and, finished up with a brilliant 72. In Shaw many people consider that New. Zealand possesses a real champion and one who would worthily hold his o.wn with the world's best if lie had experience of big match play in Europe and America. Shaw hits a terrific ball from the tee, and is now controlling his drives better as to direction, while he has greatly improved his short game. He is playing even better than ever this season,-and the man who dethrones him will' have to play great S° lf - • ,■"■'"■', Of his brother professionals who are likely to seriously challenge him there will be the steady and dependable Ev G. Moss, of Auckland, who was third in the big event last year, seven strokes behind the winner; E. S. Douglas,, who has recently relumed from a sojourn in England where he did well in big tournaments. Douglas finished in fourth place jfast year, two strokes behind Moss. Mr'J/ D. Mcintosh, of Wellington (and formerly of Nelson), who finished in eighth position last year, is a professional who may make a bid for the open this year. Lately he has recorded 60 at Horetaunga, 71 at Waiwetu, and 74 at Miramar. This is hSt" Volf, -and, if the Wellington man can reproduce this form at Palmerston North in October, he will bo hard to head. It is seldom that an amateur succeeds in carrying oft the New Zealand open championship, though frequently one is found in second place. Of the amateurs most likely to put in a bid for the highest honour this year, these will be T. H. Horton, who was only three strokes behind the champion last year, and A. D. S. Duncan, New Zealand's "Grand Old Man" of golf, who finished in.fifth place last year. Recently Duncan put up a new record for Heretaunga, going* round in 64.

Hole in One. To the average golfer the hole-m-ono is probably considered quite a rarity but that it is happening surprisingly often in the course of a year is shown by the report of an American safety razor company, which shows that it gave away in the first four months of this year no fewer than 605 of its safety razor sets, which are offered as prizes to golfers who make a holc-in-onc. The company began doing tins in 1925, and since then 10,155 men and women in the United. States and. 3197 in the British Isles have turned cards showing thai they had made a hole-in-one. v .